Well, I had my fastest red card this weekend. In the 6th minute, a player committed a tripping foul about 20 yards from the goal line, 6 yards in from the right edge of the PA. The defender was trying to recover from higher up the field more centrally located, misjudged his angle and couldn't reach the ball resulting in a trip , think 1st USA v JAM incident but closer to goal. On a side note, don't show a card when back lit by a setting sun. The player had to ask what the color was, whoops. At halftime, AR1 said that players were objecting that it was way too harsh. I looked at him and said, "I'm not from the Caribbean and they aren't playing the USMNT."
Had my 2nd full college game in the middle: 110-minute draw, one caution, but more importantly, I was extremely lucky to have my assignor and former FIFA there to provide feedback. There's a big difference between filling slots and actively seeking opportunities to help referees grow, so I want to commend those of y'all who take the time to do the same. Hadn't seen it in 3+ years, but this beauty started OT : P.S. If any of you out there need a reason to carry a spare whistle: Turns out you get brownie points for pulling your backup out after getting clobbered and having your primary go flying across the field. Apparently, having a backup overshadows being an idiot who fails to escape being too close to play
I actually had that this weekend. at the 3:20:38 mark (it's a JuCo double header, and this starts the second half of the Mens match, so it's a long stream). The camera doesn't pan, but you can tell from the reactions. The keeper is set up about 10 yards from the goal line, and the second touch off the kickoff goes right over his head into the goal.
Eff you!!!! Hate these phone calls. "Hi, this is your partner for today's school game. I want to let you know I am at the field. Look for me, I'm driving a blue Honda Civic. I'm the only car in the parking lot." Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm on my way and I'll be on time, and we can be the only two cars in the parking lot at the field 30 minutes before the match begins Friggin overachiever.
Kudos to the Ocelots. I don't think I have ever encountered a team with that mascot, so kudos to them for that, too.
My best story of the week is that I feel totally vindicated on a tight offside non-call that I made which resulted in a goal. It was a very tough call to make because of the speed of play and the way the defender behaved. This was a game-winning goal for white in a game which blue could not afford to lose for their play-off ramifications. Needless to say, there was A LOT of uproar about it, how it's "clearly offside" etc. To be fair to the coach, he just asked, I said which number kept him on and that was that - zero arguing, because he knows he's not there and he couldn't see it, and he admits that he was following the ball so he is not sure - it looked clearly offside because of the pace. Here's the play. The only way I got that vindication? Because the school allowed me to see the video of the game. You can see that blue 14 is just standing there, keeping the attacker on and he hesitates and then starts running. https://photos.app.goo.gl/n8XVhYMfkRytyBhn7
In other unrelated news -- aren't you glad you're not that first-base ump in the Dodgers/Giants game last night? Damn.
Good article -- it's not just us. One bad call for the Giants; one giant leap toward robo-umpires " ...a terrible call to end one of the epic games in the long history of Major League Baseball. A handful of baseball purists — poetical types who tend to confuse the game with theology — will find this a beautiful object lesson in the vagaries of life. But chances are it will further the encroachment of technology on the godlike authority of the ump."
What makes one think that a robo-umpire would be more forgiving? Of course, if they employed VAR, it would solve everything!
Uh, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything suggesting the robo umps would actually make check swing calls anyway . . . .
I completely booted a DOGSO call this morning. 30' in to 17 NPL boys, Cross was made up to left side of field to a free attacker. I watched as the keeper started running out for it. In my head saying dogso dogso dogso. Ball is bouncing 3-4 yards in front of attacker (he hadn't put a touch on it yet) when keeper comes out and shoulder checks into him about 25 yards out from goal. Attacker spins from the shoulder check while throwing his arms up obviously wanting a foul, I'm ready to blow the whistle for dogso (even though maybe the possession qualification technically hadn't been achieved yet, he would have obtained possession if the keeper hadn't fouled him), but the ball squirts into the box, attacker (who never went down or lost balance) gets onto it as the keeper is way behind, gets a touch, puts a shot on goal that would have gone in but a defender who made it back to the middle of the goal box sticks a leg out to deflect the ball out of play for a corner kick. I issued the keeper a caution for a reckless challenge which was probably the wrong decision as well but I felt a YC had to be given if I didn't go DOGSO red. Of course there were protestations of DOGSO from the players and coaches, but thankfully they subsided quickly. I think the aggrieved coach even called out a minute later "guys it's okay ref knows he made a mistake just play" and at halftime came out to respectfully ask about it for a second and accepted my answer and there wasn't a word about it the rest of the match. It ruined the next three games for me, I was kicking myself all day for my cowardice of giving a DOGSO red and further propagating the problem in soccer where players feel they NEED to go to ground to get a call and that fighting through stuff is actually penalized sometimes by us as refs. Watching clips to learn and attending webinars can only do so much if you can't apply them properly to games.
Based on your narrative, I'm not certain you blew it. Given that ball was moving away from goal, does that determine direction of play? You can't assume possession (and thus direction) when it has not happened yet. Distance to the ball needs to be considered since it is not yet within playing distance. And the fact that a defender was able to block the shot indicates that maybe it was not obvious opportunity. Maybe I am nitpicking your words and if I was there I would say dogso also. Who knows. And if you think the GK intentionally fouled the attacker, that makes dogso more palatable to me. (I know, not part of the rule). But we are all human and nowhere close to perfect. Live and learn and cut yourself some slack.
Parents weekend, got to see my former center-back son playing rugby. First in on rucks, directing traffic, beautiful two-leg tackle, muddy, filthy, happy.
I had the most polar opposite day Saturday. It started with two U8 rec games and a U10 rec game. It ended with two U17 boys and a U16 girls. The worst spectator? The second U8 game. One player had no idea what he was doing out there. I mean zero clue. But he was trying to have fun. While his teammate keeper was trying to take a goal kick, he was standing on the penalty area line with his arms out like he was guarding a basketball throw-in. I hoped the keeper would have kicked the ball past him. But because the soccer gods have a sense of humor, the keeper kicked it right at him. The player caught the ball, threw it into the goal, and threw his arms up in celebration. I told the youngster he should go toward the middle of the field and the keeper could kick it to him. Then he could try to score in that goal, pointing down the field. He gave me a thumbs up and started walking that way. I allowed the keeper to retake the goal kick. A parent loudly said "That's a handball in the box. That should be a penalty kick." The team that would have taken the PK was already up 8-0 in a game where scores are NOT reported. No standings. The keeper did the goal kick again, and because the soccer gods turned their sense of humor up a notch, the ball went off the knee of an opponent and went into the net. The parent yelled "Ball don't lie!" After I blew full time and started walking to the U10 field, that parent said "We beat them and we beat the referee." We? Congratulations, Dad. You are the definition of what is wrong with children's sports today.
Ball got crossed in and, despite not being possessed, was moving alongside the left line of the PA inside the PA. GK definitely came out and intentionally challenged the attacker to prevent him from possessing it. And just because a defender got there doesn't mean it wouldn't have been a situation, it might have been one of those "the contact on the attacker slowed him enough to let a defender get back in time" After having 24 hours to reflect on it, I think not calling it was arrogance on my part. When I saw the attacker recover from the foul and make a beeline for the ball in the PA and took a touch, I figured he saw an open net in front of him and if he would have scored, it would have potentially been the best advantage call you will ever see a referee make. I probably would have gone to the coaches and asked for a round of applause. When that defender got there the color drained from my face.
Did a decently high level BU14 game yesterday. Overall pretty competitive game (despite ultimately being a lopsided scoreline in favour of the visitors). Both teams started getting chippy in the last 15 minutes or so, so I tightened up what I was calling. One kid from the visiting team says to be "can you let the game flow and let them play?", so I responded that I would stop calling so many fouls once they showed they wanted to play again and he got a pensive look on his face and responded "oh, that makes sense." After the match, his coach comes over and comments that we were easily the best ref crew their team had had all season and thanked us for our time. That's something that never happens around here!
I seriously would have stopped him and told him we are desperately looking for referees. If he wants to enforce the Laws right down to the absolute letter, then he can sign up for the course. A nutjob like this completely deserves any amount of public shaming he gets.
He might deserve it, but publicly poking nut jobs is really not a good idea. Either have them removed or ignore them and then add to the report.
These are the situations where, unfortunately, he's going to get away with it scot-free more often than not. I don't think any referee is going to remove a parent after the game. In all seriousness, I'd email the assignor and ask him to contact the president of that club (with a copy to me so I know it was done). I'd like to think that club presidents/directors don't have enough to deal with that doesn't involve idiot parents, so they will do some sort of communication that will address it. Now the one thing I would try to do is get a photo of the parent (discreetly, of course) so they have a specific person to deal with.
JV match on Saturday morning. Home team kicks off, visitors press a little, but not too much pressure. Ball is played back to a defender. Defender plays ball to GK. Ball bounces over the keeper's foot and in the goal. We are 14 seconds in and its 1-0 to the visitors. They haven't touched the ball yet. Looking around dumbfounded, one player from the visiting team, not celebrating, says to me: 'We'll take it. Its probably the only goal we'll score today.' He was right, in fact they didn't even get any shots on goal. Home team scored 18 seconds later and quickly finished off the visitors.
Men's O-50 1st division (out of two) game. Two teams I've done many times over the years, back to when they were O-30's. Green team has played in national age group cup competition. We are less than 10 seconds when the first foul is committed. My perception was that both teams were shocked. There was a bit of 'are you okay?' and "sorry, lad." But it didn't last. As I said, these teams have history with each other plus the red team's player-manager is a loud fairly angry voice, even directed at teammates for their miscues. The green team is up 4-0 at half, which only added to the frustration of the red team. A confrontation over a tackle with tangled legs, with subsequent pushing and shouting, in the middle of the second half gave the game a sour taste from that point on. But the interesting part was that, for the second time in my entire career, the game ended with a penalty kick taken, by red, after the expiration of time. So they're happy/excited with the goal, at the end of the game, 5-2, and the green team knows that they won anyway. Lots of "Thanks, ref!" after the game, from both teams, albeit not the loudest complainers, and a green team player with a handshake and a "We've had some bad refs over the years, (slight pause), but you're really good." An early arriving player for the next game, O-40 4th division men, shook his head and said, "50 year old men behaving that way......." The O-40 game was almost comically easy, with both teams scoring a goal for a 0-2 final. The own goal was an absolutely brilliant header, straight into the net at the near post, almost like the player forgot which end he was defending.
After a couple of games last week that had me wanting to step away for a while, worked a state parochial schools MS & HS tourney this weekend (some private schools don't participate in the state playoffs). Ended with a couple of semi's and two finals (CR & AR in each). Came away feeling good about my crew's and my personal performances. Got my first ever HS playoff CR assignment this week, so I'm hoping that goes smoothly... at least "smoothly" relative to how playoff games often go!
GV HS playoff semi-final - Score is 0-0. Great match with good shots with equally good saves. With less than 2 seconds left in regulation a corner kick clearance comes out to midfield with one attacker just in their own half and opposing GK up to try to score on the CK. Ball flies over her head and she catches up to it about 50 yards out, one touches a lofting kick towards the unattended goal . . . But time expires before it enters the goal. Cue cheers from the fans and players . But all three officials are signaling <NO GOAL> nearly simultaneously. Multiple players pleading "It has to count, the shot was taken before time expired." and "But it was in the air". My reply "Sorry, has to be in the goal before time expires. This is not basketball. Not a goal." So we go to 20 mins of OT capped off with a goal-line clearance by a defender with a great diving GK push save from the follow-up shot in the final 10 seconds of OT. Off to KFTM. After 4 rounds, with what one would expect to be the best shooters, the result is 1-1. Combination of GK saves and high and wide shots. We continue on for a total of 11 rounds of kicks with a final KFTM result of 7-8 with the visiting team advancing to the section final. Oh and the potential game winning "late" goal was by the home team.